Arcade games that measure a player's skill and luck are well known in the art. The present inventor is also the inventor and owner of many popular games found in today's' arcades. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,272,082, entitled “Coin Projecting Amusement Device,” discloses an amusement device wherein coins may be controllably deposited by the player on a playing surface having a multiplicity of surface interruption means thereon. A vertical dam translates over at least a portion of said playing surface and pushes said deposited coins against a random pattern of accumulated coins, causing some of said accumulated coins to fall over an edge into a collecting and counting means. This game is marketed and sold under the trademark “Wedges and Ledges.” U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,248, also invented by the present inventor, discloses an amusement game where coins are dropped onto a flat surface over which a vertical dam is horizontally translated. The vertical dam translates over a portion of the flat surface and drops a certain of the accumulated coins over the edge. As the coins drop over the edge, they are collected in a counting chute to be synchronously counted in a memory and then the game vends out a corresponding number of tokens.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,585 also discloses an amusement apparatus in which a player controls a pushing device to push items off of a playing field. A moveable surface is driven in a first pre-determined path and the pusher device is moveable in a linear path traverse to the path travel of the moveable surface. A delivery passage at one end of the path of the pusher device is arranged to deliver any item swept off the surface to a retrieval bin.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,865 discloses a rotary arcade game including a turn table having a central aperture. Prizes are positioned on the surface of the turn table and moved by a pivoting arm member operated by the player. The player attempts to manipulate the arm member to push prizes into a collection pocket where they are detected and dispensed to the player. U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,374 is directed to a crane game using a vacuum to selectively pick up prizes within a bin. The prizes are arrayed on a rotating turn table, and the player manipulates a vacuum pick up device linearly along a radial direction of the turn table to pick up prizes below. U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,429 discloses another crane game using a video screen for displaying images. A maneuverable sensor contacts the display screen to select prizes displayed thereon. U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,519 discloses an arcade game including a directing mechanism for aiming a game piece such as a token. U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,881 discloses a crane game with a prize redistribution mechanism for dispersing prizes to a substantially level configuration. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,770,001 discloses a vacuum crane game with targets having beaded portions that vary the difficulty of acquiring said targets.
The foregoing illustrate arcade type games credited to the present inventor. The games are predominantly skill-based with an element of luck woven into the overall operation of the games. The present invention is the inventor's most recent creation in this line of arcade type games.